I'M SO PROUD OF JONATHAN

because he went for his dental "maintenance" without fuss :)

He was brave and so cooperative.  It puts a smile on my face that my teenage boy is mature and sensible.

I actually took some pictures with my mobile while we were waiting.  But I can't seem to get them out of my phone.  Anyway, here the chronicles of a day at the dental surgery:

• 6am Jonathan woke up.
• 7am Left home for KK Hospital
• 7.45am, we arrived at KK Hospital Day Surgery.  Note:  Good to do this during school term because it was not crowded.
• 8.10am, placed local anesthesia cream on the back of both of his hands for IV. 
• 8.30am, assessed his condition, took his temperature.  Initial reading was 37.6 degrees.  I think it was nerves that shot his temperature up.  Later on the second take, his temperature went down.  Then proceeded to change him into the gown, what was left were his diaper and socks.  He said he was not cold, even though I tried to cover his bare legs.
• 8.40am Went up to the Pedae Operating Theatre.  Another set of questions and to confirm that he's the correct patient.
• 8.45am  We (just Jon and I while H waited outside) were asked to proceed to the front of the operating theater where the doctors will come out to meet us.  First a nurse appeared, asked the same set of questions and provided me with a yellow gown, hair cap and shoe covers.  Then Doc Toh came and she explained to me what she planned to do.  While talking to her, Jonathan started voicing.  He said he wanted to do it quickly and get it over and done with.  haha After her, the anesthesiologist came to assess Jonathan.  She asked me to open Jonathan's mouth but I could see she was annoyed when I told her he couldn't and even asked Doc Toh to confirm that Jonathan has no locked jaw.  She only became ok when I apologised.  Must have thot I was playing tricks with her.
• 9am Another doctor came to assess the local anesthesia on Jonathan's hands.  I found out that she was the senior anesthesiologist.  She's very friendly, unlike the first lady who was more serious looking.
• 9.15am  We went into the operating theater.  Jonathan got nervous when he saw the bed.  I carried him onto it, they held on to him and suddenly, he became very still and just looked ahead while they inserted the IV into his right hand.  When the doctor injected a white liquid into the IV, he slept straight away and I was asked to leave.
• 9.30am  Went for breakfast with H.
• 11am Doctor came out and explained to me what happened and what she did.  then I was allowed to see Jonathan after they woke him up
• 11.30am After the senior anesthesiologist confirmed the go ahead, we went down to recover room.  Fed Jonathan 50mls of water after waiting for one hour.  Half hour later when he didn't vomit, i gave him some milk.
• 12.30pm  When he didn't throw up after the milk feed, we were allowed to go home.

The whole procedure took about 1.5 hours.  What was done:

• Scaling to clean all the teeth.
• Filled a tiny hole that was in one of the molars.
• Extracted 2 baby molars that were already shaky and finally put a layer of protection over all his molars and teeth that are unreachable.

On the whole, his teeth are ok and there are 2 more baby canines that is still firmly fixed on his upper jaw so she didn't touch that.  His teeth are now as white as snow :)

Next cleanup will probably be another 3-4 years.  Doctor Toh told me that because Jonathan's jaw is small, there are another 2 molars that might not have enough space at the back and may grow outwards.  And also just in case wisdom teeth grow, then they can do another surgery to remove them.  well...I hope no wisdom tooth at all!

The whole dental maintenance was estimated to cost $1000 plus.  But they did tell us that there might be additional costs.  So we'll wait to see the total bill when they mail it to us.  Note for parents:  For day surgery, you cannot deduct payments from Medisave.

Jonathan is a good patient.  He doesn't fuss.  The only time he did was that he wanted to go home straight away haha.

While talking to the anesthesiologist during assessment, I mentioned that Jonathan has motion sickness.  So after this dental treatment, they gave him a medication to prevent him from vomitting.  That really helped because he came home absolutely fine.

I'm also thankful that when they removed the breathing tubes, he didn't have a lot of phlegm.  This usually happened to alot of patients.  When he did have some in his throat, he was able to cough it out.

He still looks drowsy.  He said the gums are still a little sore and has requested for panadol.  But he's happy and the gums are slowly healing.

I'm very happy with Doctor Toh from the National Dental Centre.  She's so good with Jonathan and if you have any children who need dental care, get a referral and go see her.

As for me, I was knocked out when we went to bed.  I woke up at 4am feeling anxious, like any parent of a child going under GA.  I'm still a little shacked.  But thankfully, God has seen us through, especially Jonathan and took the pain away from him that he was able to recovery so quickly.

Thank you Lord!  I'm grateful :)

If your child is going under GA for the first time for dental treatment, feel free to ask me anything.  I would be happy to help you in any way I can.